Elder Chen stood proudly at the top of the valley and looked down at the panicking Horse Gang. These guys had been beaten into a daze and had no strength to resist. If they didn't surrender, there would only be one result, which was death.
The Horse Gang was also human and they were afraid of death. Facing the black mass of soldiers coming from both sides, they were instinctively scared and panicked. No matter what, the strength they had was not worth mentioning in front of the soldiers. As long as they resisted, they would die. Surrendering was their only way out.
Seeing the situation, Skinny Monkey-Like was scared out of his wits. How could he have thought that there would be soldiers lying in ambush on both sides of the valley in the middle of the night? He would never have thought of that.
Seeing the situation, Skinny Monkey-Like knew that he was completely finished. More than half of his brothers had been killed or injured, while the soldiers were in a neat formation with sophisticated weapons. There seemed to be a steady stream of reinforcements behind them. The way forward and the way back had been blocked. Under such circumstances, other than fighting to the death or surrendering, he could not think of any other way.
"Leader, we're finished."
"Leader, what should we do? We've been surrounded."
"Leader, if we resist, none of us will be able to survive."
"Why don't we … surrender to the soldiers? We have no better choice."
A few Horse Gang beside him said.
Skinny Monkey-Like sighed and said loudly, "Brothers, put down your weapons. We surrender. We surrender."
After that, he looked in the direction of the soldiers and shouted, "Don't shoot. We surrender. We surrender."
The mounted bandits under his command could not see any hope of escaping. Naturally, they threw away the weapons in their hands and surrendered to the imperial army helplessly.
"Hahaha! I've never encountered such a smooth battle. Come on! Count the results. "
Elder Chen said excitedly.
The soldiers under his command went forward to accept the surrender, took away the weapons of the Horse Gang one by one, and escorted them to a fixed position. Then, they began to count the results.
"General, our army has won this battle. We killed 109 of the enemy. Among them, we killed 9 and injured 30. 12 of the enemy's horses were killed and 35 were injured. We seized 80 horses in good condition, as well as weapons, horse food, and food."
The subordinate reported excitedly.
"Well done. That's great. These Horse Gang are rich! They have more horses than people. Haha! Now it's all ours. It's all ours. "
Elder Chen said excitedly.
"General, this is the leader of the mounted bandits."
A lieutenant led Skinny Monkey over. Because the lieutenant was taller and Skinny Monkey was smaller, he looked like he was leading a dog. It was very funny.
Skinny Monkey's figure was thin and didn't have much physical strength. Normally, such a person wasn't suitable to be a leader. However, his life was better. When he just started, he followed the leader of the horse bandits. Therefore, he quickly became a small leader. His luck was extraordinarily good.
At this moment, he was being carried away by someone. His steps were staggering, and he looked very down and lonely. There was even a trace of fear. He was probably worried that he would be executed by the soldiers!
"What's your name?"
Elder Chen asked.
"Skinny monkey."
The skinny monkey-like man replied in a trembling voice.
"Skinny monkey? Was that a person's name? Those who didn't know would think that it was a monkey. Haha! "
Elder Chen laughed excitedly.
"Hahaha …"
Many soldiers laughed out loud.
"I don't have a name. I've always been called Skinny Monkey."
The skinny monkey replied.
"Skinny Monkey, Skinny Monkey, you really live up to your name! Come on, take him away! "
Elder Chen said.
"General, what should we do with these injured mounted bandits? How many of them are injured?"
The lieutenant asked.
Elder Chen said, "Let's treat them! By the way, the injured and the non-injured mounted bandits have to be managed separately. Look after them. "
"Yes, General."
The lieutenant replied.
These mounted bandits were all injured by arrows. Generally, it wasn't very serious. Only when the vital parts were injured would it cause more serious injuries. Usually, an arrow to the arm wouldn't be very serious.
If the horse was injured, it would naturally need to be treated. However, it had to be treated before it could be used normally. If the leg injury was very serious, then even if it was treated, the horse would not be able to be used normally. In this case, what was the use of the horse? It would be better to kill it and eat it. Therefore, whenever there were horses with serious injuries or leg injuries, there was no need to treat them. They were directly slaughtered on the spot and made into fresh horse meat to supply the needs of the army.
After a tiring day, Elder Chen and his troops naturally had to rest in the valley for a night and go back the next day. In order to prevent the other mounted bandits from knowing the news, Elder Chen ordered his soldiers to clean up the battlefield and erase all the traces. In this way, no one would know what had happened in the valley.
Of course, the most important thing was not forgotten. That was to tell Ang Lee and Lao Guo the news of the victory, so that they would be happy as well.
The valley where Elder Chen ambushed was a little far from the Lushui River Valley where Ang Lee and Lao Guo ambushed. It would take some time for the news to reach there. Therefore, the good news didn't reach them until Ang Lee and Lao Guo had breakfast the next morning.
"Lao Guo! It's time for us to set off. I've brought a lot of goods, so that we can pretend to be real. "
Ang Lee selected five bodyguards and asked them to lead the horses with some goods, which made them look more like businessmen. Moreover, when choosing bodyguards, he considered the principle of choosing bodyguards who were not too strong but shrewd enough, that is, bodyguards who looked more like businessmen.
Lao Guo also chose five bodyguards, but he didn't bring any goods with him. As a general, he didn't have any goods with him. Li An, on the other hand, had a habit of carrying all kinds of interesting goods wherever he went. Therefore, he could take them out at any time, such as small mirrors, glass balls with small insects inside, sweet candy cubes, puffed biscuits, and so on. They were all rare goods, but in fact, they didn't cost much at all. What's more, they were easy to carry around, and would be nice as small gifts for others.
Besides, Ang Lee also selected some delicious foods from the army's food, such as dried dates and banana slices, which might not be eaten by the local people, so it would be good to let them have a taste.
After a while of preparation, Ang Lee and Lao Guo set off. Except for the two who rode horses, the rest of the bodyguards all led the horses on foot. Anyway, the village next to the Cold Well was not far away, so it wouldn't take them too long to get there. They just took it as a leisure trip.
On the way, a flock of birds of unknown species flew around above Ang Lee's head, chirping, as if they were declaring their territory and warning Ang Lee and his companions not to enter their territory at will. However, the birds' warning was ineffective, and no one would take a flock of birds seriously.
These birds are resident birds, which means that no matter what season, these birds will not leave this place. This is the birds' eternal home.
In contrast to resident birds, there was another kind of bird that often moved, which was called migratory bird. For example, wild geese were the most typical migratory bird, and also the most well-known one.
Migratory birds would travel between their breeding grounds and their shelter along a fixed route every spring and autumn. In different regions, migratory birds could be divided into summer birds, winter birds, travellers, and drifters according to the time of their appearance. If a bird was a winter bird in its shelter, it would be a summer bird in its breeding grounds, and a winter bird in its shelter. If it was a traveller on its way to and from its shelter and breeding grounds, it would be a winter bird. If it lived in the mountains in summer and the plains in winter, it would be a drifter bird in a certain area.
The most amazing bird species was the Lost Bird. The main distribution area of this bird species was very far away. Occasionally, a few individuals would come here because they lost their way or for other reasons. These birds might only be found once every few years. They were called Lost Birds.
Under normal circumstances, resident birds lived in their birthplace all year round. Most resident birds would never leave their nests, but there were also some resident birds that would carry out short-distance non-directional migrations. This kind of migration was regular in some cases. For example, crows would gather in the central area of the city in winter and disperse to the suburbs or mountains in summer. This kind of regular short-distance non-directional migration was called drifting.
Some species, such as snow pheasants, would migrate between high and low altitudes according to the change of seasons, which was called vertical migration. Although it was called migration, it was still a behavior of resident birds. Some species' short distance migration was completely irregular, and they just wandered according to the change of food situation. This kind of bird was actually a transitional type between resident birds and migratory birds.
"Assistant Minister Li, why are you looking at the birds all the time? Do you want to shoot a few of them and make some wild game to try? "
Lao Guo asked when he saw Ang Lee looking up at the birds in the sky from time to time.
Li An's train of thought was disrupted. He smiled and said, "Forget it! Such small birds don't have much meat. I'll just let them go. If I see a bird as big as a pheasant, I can shoot some to taste. "
"Birds nowadays are much fatter than before. It's all thanks to Assistant Minister Li!"
Lao Guo said.
"What does the fatter birds have to do with me?"
Ang Lee asked curiously.
However, he soon guessed something. It probably had something to do with agriculture.
"If Assistant Minister Li hadn't invented so many agricultural machines, the crops in the fields wouldn't have been so plentiful. With more food, birds naturally have more food. How can birds not be fat?"
Lao Guo said.
"Haha! So that's it! The birds are fat. It seems that people in the Tang dynasty don't have to starve anymore. "
Ang Lee said happily.
Agriculture was the foundation of an empire. Only with the development of agriculture could the empire not be choked by others, because food was too important. There was a saying since ancient times that food was the most important thing to the people. If there was no food, even the kindest people would revolt. Once there were revolts and wars everywhere in the empire, the empire would be in chaos. It seemed that the empire would be destroyed sooner or later.
Therefore, since ancient times, solving the food problem had always been the top priority of the imperial court. In order to solve the food problem, the imperial court even formulated a policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce to encourage more people to engage in agriculture.
Among the four major professions in ancient times, agriculture ranked second, just below the ruling class, the scholars, the farmers, the businessmen. The fact that agriculture ranked second was enough to show the importance that the rulers attached to agriculture.
"There seems to be a well ahead. Could it be the Cold Well?"
Lao Guo raised his head and saw the well in the distance.
This was also because the equipment of this well was relatively perfect. There was a booster above the well, and there was a sunshade shed higher up. So, it could be seen from a long distance.
"There really is a well. According to the distance, this well should be the famous Coldwater Well. Come, let's go take a look."
Ang Lee said.
Although there was still a distance, they could see seven or eight people were busy fetching water beside the well. They should be the villagers near the Cold Well. It was said that there was only one well in the village.
After getting closer, the villagers who were fetching water looked at Li An and his group curiously. Because they were all from a small place and had not seen much of the world, these villagers looked at Li An and his group curiously. Besides curiosity, there was also a trace of vigilance in their eyes.
After all, outsiders were not necessarily good people. If they were bad people, it would be very bad. Therefore, people in the countryside were generally more vigilant against outsiders. This was a unique instinct. However, after getting familiar with them, they would slowly relax their vigilance.
For the sake of the most basic courtesy, Ang Lee and Lao Guo dismounted when they were 20 steps away from the well, and the guards stopped moving forward. After all, there was a well in front of them. If the horses got too close, the well water would be easily contaminated. In that case, the well water would be unusable.
"Uncle, this is the Cold Well, right?"
Ang Lee stepped forward and pointed at the well mouth.
An old man in his fifties or sixties looked at Ang Lee and nodded. "It is the Cold Well. What are you doing here?"
Hearing the old man's question, Ang Lee answered, "We are businessmen passing by. We heard that there is a well that is cold all year round. We find it interesting, so we come to have a look to see if the water in this well is the same as what others said."
"Come on. Try it yourself and you will know."
The old man was quite generous. He handed a small bucket of water that he had just fetched to Li An.
"Thank you very much, uncle."
Li An took the bucket and stretched out his hand to test it. It was really cold water, the kind that was very cold. This was very different from ordinary wells because in winter, the water from most wells would be somewhat warm. At least when people tested it with their hands, it would feel warm. However, the water in the cold well in front of them was actually ice-cold, which was very surprising.
Lao Guo also came to try it himself, and exclaimed, "Oh, it is so cold! It's so cold, and there's actually such a cold well. This is too miraculous! "
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